The 2015-16 budgets passed by the City of Los Angeles, the County of Los Angeles, and the State of California all include good news for arts nonprofits. While there is much work yet to be done, there are many milestones to celebrate with funding for the arts on the rise across the state. The majority of arts funding increases are a result of restorations to cuts we saw during the Great Recession.

Arts for LA applauds Governor Edmund G. Brown for signing into action the 2015-2016 state budget, which includes a whopping $7.1 million permanent funding increase for the California Arts Council (CAC). The CAC, a state agency, awards grants to nonprofit arts organizations across the state.

The California State Legislature on Sunday approved a budget for 2014-2015 that includes a $5 million increase in funding to the California Arts Council.

by Amy Sauceda

The California Arts Council and Californians for the Arts are celebrating positive steps forward for an appropriation bill of $7 million.  Last Thursday, the California State Legislative Budget Conference Committee voted 8-0 to support the increase in funding for the state's arts agency.

On April 30, Arts for LA’s Executive Director Danielle Brazell issued a letter to the Honorable Mr. Paul Krekorian, chair of the Budget and Finance Committee of the Los Angeles City Council.  The full text of the letter follows.  Arts for LA will continue to monitor the city's budget process and update our advocates on its status whenever possible.

April 30, 2014

After several deadlines to produce it elapsed, the Los Angeles Unified School District stepped forward to take leadership on releasing a budget for its arts education branch last week.  The budget was presented at the Budget, Facilities, & Audit Committee meeting of the board on Thursday, February 20.

Arts for LA has launched an Action Alert inviting LAUSD parents and community members to ask Board of Education members to lead the charge on having an arts education budget produced this month.  

California is perched on the edge of an unprecedented transformation of our education system. Over the next year, every school will receive more funding to support student success, but schools will need to hear from you about how to best use this money.

Last week, Los Angeles's City Council adopted the Mayor's proposed budget after extensive budget committee hearings with department heads to better understand the implications of the Mayor's funding proposals.  As previously reported, the budget included an incremental increase in funding to the Department of Cultural Affairs, the City of Los Angeles's primary grantor for arts and cult